Category: Experimental

Disenfranchised after his work in the Bible, Satan has been busy as an indie game developer, and is currently working on the twenty-somethingth iteration of his magnum opus, Pony Island. Now it’s up to you to beta-test this hellish, horse-themed endless runner, traversing fences, flying across bottomless pits, and shooting lasers at wizard goblins. Save the imprisoned souls of the arcade as you hack your way through Pony Island’s terrible source code and the artefacts of its entire development history, including the early text-adventure version, the 3D version, the adventure game version, and the version with a mascot.

Putting aside the enigma of why game form is challenged while books can be books and films can be films, not everyone takes equally well to the game genre with no apparent goal but to encounter novel stimuli, a phenomenon which is usually a logical and implicit side effect of most games. Picture Yume Nikki, only 3D, with six main characters and one central location, a large forest with randomly generated layout.

Death in gaming is usually commonplace, and not just in explicitly violent titles like Call of Duty. Even most Nintendo protagonists send their enemies to the void. When Undertale gives us the chance to circumvent this behavior, are those in the minority who choose to kill regardless really morally reprehensible, compared to the many players who took this unique opportunity?

The presentation of “All the Way Down” is professional grade, as far as the uber-indie world is concerned. They have real falling snow when it’s supposed to be snowing and sounds that pan depending on where your character is walking. Snow crunching from left to right! The future is now, everybody.